Beijing vows to get tough in war on poverty

Beijing has promised the strictest assessments yet to make sure that its poverty alleviation policies are effective, and warned against irregularities such as the manipulation of figures.

Poverty reduction is a key policy aim for the Communist Party and the central government. The official goal is to eliminate poverty, defined as annual income of less than 2,300 yuan (HK$2,600), and build a “moderately affluent society” by 2020.

The party has promised to use all available resources to wipe out poverty, a goal that was written into the 13th Five Year Plan. It has set important targets for the country by 2020.

In a meeting with National People’s Congress (NPC) deputies from Liaoning province on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping said poverty alleviation work must be solid and that measures should be taken to prevent officials from manipulating the relevant figures.

A strict system had been developed to assess whether each province reached its poverty alleviation target, said Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council’s leading group office of poverty alleviation and development, at a media briefing on the sidelines of the NPC session in Beijing.

Liu said that independent assessments by academics, funded entirely by the central government, had been arranged.